Hi hi, Crimson here!
Welcome to the story! Here, we've gone exactly "0" days without translation errors!
くたばれ！
...くそ！
それに直面しよう、これは私の人生です、誰もこれをすべてギャグのために翻訳するつもりはないので、理論的には、この部分を翻訳することは愚か
...それを超えて！
Lilith thought that spending a day off would help her relax. While it wasn't the best for the other person, nothing helped her calm down much like watching someone else slowly but surely get pulled apart.
And yet, the moment Lilith warped back into her room, she couldn't help but feel a bit… empty. Was the whole day wasted? Or maybe this was remorse for the mental suffering she forced Dimitri to endure?
...Nah, probably not.
Lilith dismissed the thought as a whole, unwilling to worry about it at the moment. Instead, she mentally picked up the bigger and heavier mental folder: the Breach.
Tomorrow, she'd have to go with Slender up to the Cabin to… Now that she thought about it, she wasn't completely sure as to how that was going to work. Regardless, she had to be ready.
It really sucked how, with that single thought, apprehension began to crawl its way back inside of her. She spent the entire day trying to make sure that this wouldn't happen, and here she was, panicking. God it sucked to know that one bad thought could unravel a whole day of "placated progress".
Groaning, she took her mask off, tossing it from hand to hand before throwing it onto her nightstand, eyepatch quickly following in suit. In hindsight, she was glad that she had decided against only making Dimitri's life miserable for the day.
"Well, at least today wasn't a total waste of time." Lilith muttered, slipping her backpack off before sitting at her desk. Truth be told, the day wasn't completely spent on relaxation. While it was easier for Dimitri to believe that she was just hanging around in order to make his life harder, that wasn't the complete truth.
What he didn't know was that, from his shadow, Lilith had been planting cameras. Or, more accurately, a multitude of "high-definition, spiritually-modified photo and video capture apparatus"! Not that Lilith really knew what he was talking about, but if his boastfulness at the time was anything to go off of, it must have meant that his cameras were good.
She thanked the fact that Ben had so many of these, there was no way that he was going to notice four or five missing (Granted, she had taken some in spite of Ben a while ago, but regardless, her point still stood).
Clearing her desk, she set to work on her little project, pulling her relatively heavy bag to rest against her chair. She took a moment to recline a bit in her seat before setting to work.
Dimitri may not have noticed, but Lilith hadn't spent the entire day in his shadow. No, she took her time to inspect her old school, but not only to place cameras.
Let's just say, she couldn't be happier when she realized that they had refurbished and restocked the computer lab.
Sure, she wasn't the best when it came to the technicalities of building things, she had a decent amount of practice and experience when it comes to electronics and trying to fix them enough to work somewhat.
Taking a moment to stretch her fingers, she pulled a small screen from her bag, barely the size of an Ipad. Setting it on her desk, she opened a drawer of a random assortment of tools, hoping that she had what she needed to get this little side project done.
She took a moment to mentally run through her blueprint. No, calling it a blueprint was much too "brainy". It was more like a poor 2D model in her head. Even then, it was something to work off of.
She yawned, watching the oranges and red hues slowly travel down the length of her room before setting to work.
She woke suddenly in a pool of her own drool.
Taking a moment to wake up, she wiped the drool from her mouth, making a face at the puddle before throwing her sleeve over it.
That did nothing to help with the gross factor, but at least it was off of her desk. She yawned, a bit confused to find loose wires in her hair, only to have the pieces come back into place at the sight of the… thing on her desk.
Being how she just woke up, and that her memory wasn't the best in the morning, she had no idea if the thing on her desk was what she was going for last night. Granted, she also couldn't really recall her mental blueprint right now, so she didn't know if she could really judge herself right now.
The monitor from last night had its back panel opened, with a multitude of wires sticking out and/or ripped out. The wires curled out like dried-up weeds, and if the sight of other disassembled electronics on her desk were any indication, she hadn't finished it.
Before she could attempt to figure out where her head was last night, her eyes skimmed over her clock, a sense of horrid dread raising up in her system as she realized it was almost 10 in the morning.
"SHIT!"
She all but threw herself out of her chair and at her dresser, ripping drawers open in order to shove clothes into… Fuck, where was her backpack!?
Lurching over back to her desk, she emptied out whatever was left back onto her desk, nearly breaking the monitor in the process. She could worry about that later, she needed to get going!
She all but dumped out whatever was in her drawer (which honestly wasn't as much as she thought she had, but being how she wore the same thing every day it shouldn't have surprised her) into her backpack.
Throwing that over her shoulder, she nearly barreled her door down, startling Ben on her way out, "Where's the fire?" He yawned, stretching as he watched Lilith dash down the hall, "Alright then."
She ran straight down the hall, taking seconds to compose herself before knocking on the door. In her consternation, she didn't think to knock on the door, instead taking the slight opening as a welcome.
The blood in her ears had drowned out the hushed yet aggressive trade of words from beyond the door, panic dictating that she needed to get to her boss and get to him NOW, "I'm so sorry for being late, sir-."
If her greeting hadn't tipped them off, the loud thud of the door closing would have.
She hadn't realized that there was a heated argument going on in the office, and now that her panic was slowly filtering out, her logic couldn't help but slap her over the head, "I'm so sorry, I can wait-."
"On the contrary, you're right on time."
Lilith couldn't stop the shiver that went straight down her spine, taking a tiny step back. Slender sounded downright murderous, with a hint of spite and a dash of barely contained rage.
"Are you seriously going to leave while we're in the middle of this?"
"Unlike you, I have better things to do." Slender muttered, walking right past the Shade without a second thought, "Come now, Lilith."
Lilith snapped out of her slight stupor, following Slender down the hall, "Yes, sir."
"Oh hell no," Shad scowled, pushing right past Lilith in order to follow Slender out, "You don't get to act all calm and collected just because you gotta look good in front of your proxy!"
"I'd rather you not continue with this charade, Shadow Lurker." Slender huffed, making his way down the stairs, Lilith following silently.
"Like. Hell." Lilith felt a violet rush of cold air run straight up her spine as Shad slipped into it, popping out right in front of them, "We're not done here."
Lilith peeked around her tall master, watching as Shad threw both arms out, blocking off the bottom of the staircase, "...Are you serious?"
"What's it look like?" Shad growled, his shadow whipping about venomously. Lilith thought she heard hissing, but she wasn't too sure.
Clearing her throat, Lilith spoke up, "Shad, surely we can just-."
"I DON'T wanna hear it from you right now, princess," Shad spat, a dark smog rising up from his shoulders, "This is between me and 'Slendy' here."
"Shadow Lurker, calm down."
"You do NOT get to tell me to calm down!" Lilith couldn't help but feel heavier, as if the ground was trying to pull her in. A slight but constant ringing noise kept to the back of her head, slowly making her nauseous, "You're the last person that get to say that!"
Lilith watched as Slender looked Shad over, sizing him up almost. Lilith couldn't help but feel the need to back up the stairs, the tension in the air too tense. Right before she thought one of them would throw a punch, Slender tilted his head back ever so slightly, "Lilith, are you ready to go?"
"Yes, sir." She wasn't sure whether to be relieved or alarmed that that was basically an automated response at this point.
"Good." She barely registered the cold hand on her shoulder before the world shifted, Shad's angry image fading in favor of a snow-covered tree.
"I do apologize for the sudden jump, but I wasn't too fond of Shadow Lurker's insistence on arguing."
"Of course, sir." Lilith muttered, pulling up the collar of her jacket as the cold began to bite at her. Looking around, she took note of the familiar landscape, "Sir, how far are we from the cabin?"
"Not too far," Slender said, already moving to make the hike up, "I hope you don't mind, I needed a short walk to clear my thoughts."
"Of course not, sir." And so began their quiet trek up the snowy mountain. It wasn't as cold as Lilith had initially thought it to be, but the snow wasn't making it easy to traverse.
On top of that, a cold, heavy silence descended upon them, neither one of the two willing to break it. Lilith didn't want to bother Slender, who seemed lost in thought at the moment. So, instead, she looked out and around, mentally searching for something out of place on this mountain side.
If she remembered correctly, the cabin was somewhere surrounded by trees, near its own personal cliff.
So, with that in mind they should be…
...Who was she kidding, she had no idea where to go.
"Did you hear me, Lilith?"
"Hmm?" Lilith snapped out of it, "Sorry, what was that, sir?"
"I asked you if you have been doing well."
"I believe I have been," Lilith muttered, mentally running through a list of what she'd accomplished recently, "At the moment I'm helping the Doctor figure out this whole Mindless mess."
"... I see."
The silence of the mountain once again took over.
Before the temptation to fill the silence took over, Slender came to a stop in front of her, "We're here."
Lilith looked up just in time for the wind to whip her hair into her face, pulling it from her face in order to follow Slender up the slight inclination.
The cabin looked no different from the last time she'd been here, still as silently serene as ever. In fact, with the absence of everyone else, the cabin looked like a lovely getaway location.
Just her, alone up here.
With her master.
… Yeah, she didn't quite know how she felt about that.
"Someone seems a bit aloof today."
"My apologizes, sir." Lilith snapped from her thoughts, shaking her head a bit just to make sure she had returned to reality, "What would you like me to do?"
"Draw a perimeter around the house. Be sure to include a part of the forest and the cliff itself."
She half expected him to hand her a branch and tell her to have fun, "Yes, sir."
She looked over the estate, pulling at her fingers before as she mentally worked it out. Before she had to think the command, her shadow zipped out like a bullet, sinking into the snow and leaving a trail as it dashed. In seconds a circle had been drawn, the two of them standing outside of it, "Like that, sir?"
"Precisely." Lilith watched as he pulled at his fingers, rolling his neck ever so slightly, "Whatever you do, do not step over this line until I say so. Do you understand?"
"Of course, sir."
"Very well, let's begin."
With those words, Slender crouched down, placing a hand on the line. He seemed to mutter something, some sort of phrase that Lilith couldn't hear over the howls of the chilly wind.
Lilith watched as the line glowed a soft yellow, small embers floating up from it.
Lilith watched as the soft yellow became a harsh red, exploding upwards as if the very earth itself had cracked open, spewing out lava vapor.
Lilith didn't realize she was leaning in to look closely until a plume puffed over her face. Lilith coughed, face feeling as if it were on fire as she hacked and sputtered. She moved the bottom of her mask out of the way, coughing out the vapor while also trying to swallow down the cold, soothing air.
Some of it, whatever it was, she had inhaled. Her lungs burned, eyes watered, and being how she still felt cold on the outside, her body was going through a incalescence hell.
"Lilith, are you alright?"
"Y-yes, sir." Lilith sputtered, beating on her chest with her fist twice before inhaling the icy air, "Wrong pipe."
Lilith took his silence as a suggestion, taking a tentative step back as she fixed her mask back over her face. Now that she thought about it, she was thankful for the mask, keeping her face protected from the wind.
Lilith couldn't help but squint, watching as the cabin in the distance seemed to shift like a mirage, only to jump a bit when the ground began to shake, "Sir, we may have to take cover, there may be an avalanche!"
"I assure you, an avalanche would be the least of our worries right now." Lilith couldn't help but note that his voice sounded strained, "Now, if you'd please, I can feel your apprehension from here, and I need quiet to focus."
"I… Sorry, sir."
With that, Lilith's ears popped, nearly stumbling over the line as if something had reached out and pulled her in. Looking back up at the cabin, she noticed that… Nothing had changed.
The line in the snow slowly melted back into itself, leaving behind some sort of black residue before fading completely. She watched as Slender slowly stood up, eyes trained on what she could only assume was his smoldering skin.
"Sir… What did you do?"
"Hopefully, I've set up the Breach correctly." Slender muttered, seemingly indifferent towards the steam coming off of his hand.
"Is there a way for us to find out, sir?" Lilith asked, eyeing the cabin wearily. The circle wasn't there, but it felt as if she could still feel its presence, "Visibly, it doesn't look like anything's changed."
"Visibly." Slender murmured, before extending his hand to her, "Give me your hand, Lilith."
Lilith slipped her hand into his quietly, a little too mindful of how cold his fingers felt against her own as he ushered her forward. Lilith tentatively took a step over where the line once was, slowly placing her foot down as if she'd explode… Only to cock her head to the side when she didn't, "...Sir?"
"Hold on." Slender muttered, stepping into the threshold. The moment his shoe touched down, a shockwave went right through her, staring from where Slender held her hand before bouncing right back, "There we are."
"...Interesting." She muttered, looking around. Granted, she didn't know exactly what was interesting about this, but she assumed it was something big.
"Lilith."
"...Yes, sir?"
"You can let go of my hand now."
"Ah, of course." Lilith muttered sheepishly, dropping his hand in favor of shoving them into her pockets, looking the cabin over with a bit of confusion, "So… What do we need to do now, sir?"
"I'm not completely sure if I conducted the Breach properly," Slender murmured, looking around as if everything needed to be inspected, "Even if I did, I'm not sure if it will be able to hold properly without testing it."
"What can I do, sir?"
"Go and ensure no one is within the cabin, I will inspect the grounds."
Lilith nodded, straightening out her jacket as she walked over to the cabin, thankful for the cold plastic cooling her heated face.
Not that her face was heating up for any reason.
"This whole thought is ridiculous." Lilith muttered to herself, all but stomping her way up the stairs, "I'm not seriously thinking about this, and I'm not going to touch any of it, the Doc be damned."
"...And now I'm talking to myself. It's official, I've gone crazy."
With that thought, Lilith unlocked and opened the door, the air within stale. Sure, everything looked relatively the same as the last time she'd been here, but something felt… Off.
A few steps in she heard something scurry about upstairs. Lilith groaned, dropping her bag on the couch before rolling her shoulders, "It looks like there's been an infestation." She muttered, rolling up her sleeves a bit before heading up the stairs.
The three bedroom doors on the right wall were shut, with only the door at the end of the hallway left ajar. Lilith's footsteps were slow and quiet, the only thing giving her away being the slight squeak of the wood under her weight.
She could see shadows moving from behind the door, a dark shadow pacing behind it. With a snap of her fingers, her scythe shot up from the ground, sliding perfectly into her outstretched hand as she advanced. She didn't want to dirty Slender's room, but she doubted that her master would prefer the alternative.
Before she could kick down the door, it flew forward, propelled by someone behind it. Before she could react, her shadow moved, stopping the door dead in its tracks. Unfortunately, it also allowed whoever was inside to dash past her.
"Fucking move, Mati!" Three teens raced past her, each of them making a break down the hallway.
"What a bother." Lilith grumbled lightly, throwing an arm out. Her shadow zipped forth, encircling around one of their ankles, grabbing her back up the stairs.
"Of my god, Cathy!"
"It's too late for her, Frank! Let's go!"
"You fucking traitors!" The girl on the floor sobbed, fruitlessly clawing at the carpet, desperately trying to escape Lilith's grasp. Lilith walked over her, slowly getting irritated with the girl's pleas, "Please, don't kill me! We had no idea that someone lived here, we were just exploring-"
Lilith didn't give her time to finish, bringing the scythe down on her quickly, "Don't bother." Lilith grumbled, marching down the stairs.
She couldn't help but laugh a bit at the two trying to get the door open, "Pesky thing, isn't it? I'm not too fond of doors that like to jam either, especially when I'm in a rush."
The boy yelped, jumping ever so slightly before grabbing the girl next to him, "Hey, Frank, what the fuck!"
"I'm sorry!" He shouted, throwing her right at Lilith. "You fucker!" Was all she shouted before Lilith stuck her foot out. The girl yelped, falling into her shadow, only to have it splash around her, "W-what the-?"
"I'm getting really tired of this, kid." Lilith spat, the girl's shadow chomping down on her with Lilith's last word.
To that, he yelped, throwing his shoulder into the door before it finally gave. He threw the door open, running right out into the snow outside.
"Pitiful." Lilith mumbled, stepping out and preparing to tackle him, only to watch as a tendril shot out from the left, grabbing him by the ankle. Lilith cursed, quickly making her way out of the cabin, "I apologize, sir. I was about to dispose of him."
"That's unnecessary," Was his curt response, tone as casual as it could be with the screams of a hanging teenager in the background, "In fact, he could serve a further purpose."
Lilith watched as Slender strode off into the trees, the boy's limp body dangling in the tendrils that spiked from his back, "Come now, Lilith."
She followed, watching as the body swung ever so slightly with each step. She followed him to where she assumed the Breached area ended. She watched as Slender raised the body ever so slightly, before throwing it forward.
Lilith heard the sickening crack of something snapping as the boy's body collided with something, an invisible barrier of sorts.
"Interesting." Slender murmured, before pressing him to the barrier. Lilith watched as his cheek flattened out, as if he were being pressed up against glass, "Very interesting."
Once that was done, he dropped the boy on the ground, leaving him in a groaning heap, "It would appear as if, when someone is within the Breached area as it's being separated, they end up trapped inside. On a separate note, one could still see the outside world from here to an extent, but cannot interact nor escape."
Finally, he turned to Lilith, "Escape this area, Lilith."
Lilith nodded, holding her hand out carefully before pressing it forward, both surprised and intrigued by the invisible force pushing back against her. She tried to will her shadow upwards, like she would for a wall, only to have it stay put.
With a small sigh, she instead moved to stand within her shadow, planning to slip right through it and pop out on the other side. She jumped, stomping down a bit, only to have the snow repel her feet, "Umm… I don't think I can, sir."
"Are you positive?"
Just to check the barrier's dexterity, Lilith swung her scythe up and behind her, giving it just a moment's hesitation before bringing it down on the barrier. She yelped as it bounced right back, swinging itself out of her hands, "There's one last thing I could try…"
Taking a deep breath, she forced her shadow up from the ground, trying to ignore the sweat beading on her face as she did so. She forced it to twist and turn, forming a makeshift drill with it. She threw her hands out, head beginning to pound lightly as it started spinning, the tip pressing against the barrier.
Lilith grint her teeth, eyes narrowing as she forced it farther, ignoring how her head was throbbing just a bit stronger. She was sure she could break it, she just had to-
She had a split second to react before her shadow burst into shards, throwing her arms out in front of her face as her shadow shot out, melting into the ground once they landed, "I don't think I can break that." Lilith muttered, ignoring the slight sting from where her shadow had ripped through her hoodie and some of her skin.
"...I see."
Lilith flinched when cold fingers touched her arm, "Are there any other pressing matters to attend to, sir?"
"Nothing strenuous." Slender muttered, before turning on his heel, heading right back to the cabin, "For now, we will be staying in the cabin, in order to further inspect the Breached area."
Lilith waited for him to go on, only to follow him back to the cabin in relative silence.
All the while, she couldn't help but think about the Breach. So, from what she'd gathered, she was basically trapped in a snowglobe-like prison where, on her own, there was no real way out.
...Yeah, the more she thought on it, the worse her anxiety got.
With that thought, she nearly tripped over the first step of the short stairway up, watching Slender open the door before stepping to the side. Lilith stared at him for a bit, confused, before it finally clicked in her head, "Thank you, sir." She managed softly, making her way through the door.
"Make yourself comfortable, you'll need to do something for the bleeding." At first, Lilith wasn't sure what she was talking about, not until she felt something trickle down her fingers.
"Oh, shit." Lilith sighed, pulling her hoodie up and off of her, completely forgetting about her mask in the mad scramble to get the offending piece of clothing off. Her eyepatch stayed put somehow, despite how violently she had whipped her hoodie off.
She didn't have time to mentally complain about how cold it was, instead glaring at the red streaks that now ran down her arm, "I didn't think it was this bad."
The tank top she wore stuck to her body in a cold sweat, not much protection against the cold without her hoodie on. In a fruitless attempt, she tried to dab her hoodie against the multitude of cuts, trying not to pay too much attention to the parts of her arm that looked shish kebabed.
She barely noticed Slender moving about, first lighting a fire in the fireplace, before disappearing into the kitchen area. She didn't notice him approaching her until he took hold of her hoodie, tugging it out of her grip, "That'll only make it worse. We'll need to clean it properly."
"I… Of course, sir, I apologize." Lilith hated how she sounded like a total broken record. She jumped a bit when something cold and wet touched her arm, "I can do it-"
"Let me, it's my fault this happened in the first place." He insisted, cutting off her argument before it even had a chance to begin.
With that, silence took over as Slender cleaned off Lilith's arm, "As of now, it would appear as if my theory on Breaching a large area is correct," Slender murmured, not bothering to give her any warning before pouring what she assumed to be alcohol over her arm. Lilith hissed, jaw sealed shut as she forced herself to stay still, "Of course, I've only ever seen it happen once on a much larger level, but I believe that the same rules, more or less, shall apply."
"I wasn't able to leave," Lilith murmured, trying to add to the conversation. Honestly, she preferred this over the silence right now, especially when it came to the alcohol he was pressing into and over her arm, "What about you, sir? Are you able to leave?"
He seemed to freeze for a moment, thinking it over before vanishing completely. The rag fell to the ground, open bottle of cleaner doing the same. Lilith swore, turning it back upright before anymore could spill on the carpet. Hopefully it wouldn't stain or anything.
She nearly jumped again when her ears popped, Slender appearing next to her, "It would appear so."
"That's good." Lilith murmured, holding a hand over her chest, hoping her heart wouldn't jump out. She assumed that nothing could really surprise her anymore, but for some reason, she found that rule getting consistently broken.
Slender nodded, taking a few more seconds to look down at her (at least, Lilith assumed so with the way his head was tilted down), before moving to scoop her up. Lilith bit back the yelp, instead awkwardly laughing, "Umm, sir?"
"Staying on the dirty carpet won't do much for your current condition." Slender reasoned, placing her down on the couch, "There is a bathroom and shower, but it's outside and separate from the cabin."
"It's alright, I think I'm okay, sir." Lilith forced her face to cool down, no mask in place to hide her expression otherwise. Why did she feel so warm?
She blamed it on the fireplace, yep, all its fault.
"Is there anything else we need to do, sir?"
"Currently, no." Slender murmured, sitting down next to her on the couch, "We'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if my theories hold up."
"I see." Lilith murmured, the cold slowly creeping into her, a yawn escaping her mouth, "We'll just have to wait then, sir?"
"Indeed."
And so, the two sat on the couch, staring at the flickering fire from her spot. She couldn't help but feel… Safe at the moment. She waited for the anxiety to hit, for the feeling of being too close to force her cheeks to go red and her body to stiffen up.
It was quite odd, the level of comfort that blanketed the two. She barely noticed the arm Slender had rested on the back of the couch, and even when she did, she didn't feel the usual need to make it weird.
All in all, it was very… nice.
She all but melted into the couch, sleep slowly but surely taking hold of her as her eyelids began to flutter, "Do you think Shad will still be fuming when we return, sir?"
"Without question."
Welp，我想我只是要留在这里一点，希望我能在这里解决问题。 如果我可以在这里修复它，也许它会自己修复在另一个fic。 只是得弄明白这一点真正的快...